January is considered one of the most stressful months of the year for several reasons. One of the biggest: New Year’s resolutions. There is no doubt that, if accomplished, resolutions to make a change in your diet, exercise, or personal finances can be beneficial to both your mental and physical health. But the excessive pressure you put on yourself to accomplish them is not healthy
Get Fit
If you’re trying to hit the gym to improve your health, enlist a friend to exercise with you.
- A workout buddy means you have an incentive to exercise, along with built-in social support.
- Fitness technology can also help you stay on track.
Save Money
Budgeting for the future doesn’t have to be a stressful task. Here are some strategies to make sure you’re budgeting effectively and saving enough to get you through the tough times.
- No one else seems to be doing it, and that makes you feel alone.
New Diets
Losing weight is a popular New Year’s resolution, and it’s usually a great idea for overall health as well as for the fun of fitting into better clothes.
- However, especially with certain types of diets, the first days of a new diet can bring frustration (from feeling “deprived” of favorite foods), moodiness (from biological changes in your body), and the loss of a coping mechanism.
Eat Healthier
Stress affects your eating habits, and overeating and undereatration can occur as well
- Here are some tips to help with both stress and diet co-ordination to make New Year’s resolutions easier and more attainable
- Avoid overeating, undereating, and over-working
Resolution Perfectionism
New Year’s resolutions can be stressful if tackled with the traditional method of setting a high goal and trying to attain it immediately
- If you’d like to maintain resolutions with less stress, create a different format for your goals
- Take baby steps, build in rewards for your progress, and make a few other minor changes
Lose Weight
Turn your weight-loss resolutions into SMART goals
- SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound
- Here are some SMART weight loss goal ideas
- I will lose one pound each week until I reach *** pounds in eight months.
Quit Smoking
Most people who smoke use the habit as a primary coping device; when they feel stressed, they smoke to feel better.
- When they can’t use smoking to cope with the stress of not smoking, it becomes an escalating spiral of stress
- It is important to have a few stress relievers on hand to cope during those early quitting days
